Farmer Julia's Blog — ethical meat

I know I talk a lot about eating less meat but I know that it is easier said than done. Western society has a messed up relationship with food and with meat  in particular but, like many relationships, it doesn't matter how messed up they are.... if they are familiar, they're hard to get out of. If you've never been known another way, it can seem overwhelming to form new habits. 

Seems like everyone is selling "local, sustainable, ethical" meat these days. It's big business and even companies like Walmart and McDonalds are cashing in on consumer demand for products that are produced using methods that take issues like animal welfare and the environmental into consideration. There are all kinds of certification and labeling systems designed, in theory, to bridge the gap between production methods and consumer knowledge. But for all these efforts, the waters just seem to be getting muddier and muddier and increasingly, words like "local, sustainable and ethical" are being diluted to the point where they don't mean much any more.